Edinburgh Morning News 13 / 10

Bainfield aim to keep the capital city on the Scottish indoor bowls map this season with the stars and super stars from the Edinburgh based club oozing strong self confidence as they set to embark on their Premier League campaign.

The return to action of iconic figure Robert Marshall is a massive boost to team morale and together with fellow skips James Hogg, Paul O’Donnell, and Gavin Smith the opening line up away to Coatbridge on Saturday certainly has strong backbone. Neil Watson is back in the fold after a spending last season at Midlothian and the excitingly talented Junior Scotland outdoor cap lines up in his favoured position of lead however there is the loss of a major team figure to be coped with. Colin Hutchison is unable to commit his services on a regular basis to the sport as the richly talented nine times capped star has his hands full as Head of Development of Scottish Athletics. Player Manager Paul O’Donnell hand a debut to Greg Walker and has invested the team captaincy in former international star Alan Brown (18 caps). The opening line up reads. Rink 1. Neil Watson, Brian Stoddart, Kevin Tennant, and James Hogg. Rink 2. Steven Pilley, Tam Ebbs, Craig Paterson, and Paul O’Donnell. Rink 3. Steven Stewart, Alan brown, John McDermott, and Gavin Smith. Rink 4. Mark McIntosh, Greg Walker. David Gormley, and Robert Marshall.

Midlothian will campaign in the same A section of the PL as Bainfield and with home carpet advantage at their Dalkeith Stadium the win odds are stacked in their favour against Cumbernauld. Team Manger Frank Gray is no stranger to team selection frustrations down the years so will take the enforced absence of star trio David and Billy Peacock and Jack Macnab in his stride. Gray can still field an exceptionally strong set of skips in the shape of Ronnie Duncan, Colin Walker, Graeme Archer, and Danny McDougall while his opening selection continues to feature former Portobello stars Andy Caldwell and Ian Fleming. Duncan is given the captaincy for the first time and the line up reads; Rink 1. Scott Runciam, Craig Hodge, Andy Caldwell, and Graeme Archer. Rink 2 Ian Forbes, Paul Innes, Dogie Russell, and Colin Walker. Rink 3. Neil Linton, Jim Cullen, Scott Briggs, and Danny McDougall. Rink 4. Jamie Macnab, Ian Fleming, AJ Knight, and Ronnie Duncan. Liam McKay the recently crowned E&L Tait Trophy Champion has joined up at Midlothian IBC and has been named on the bench for the opening PL match.

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